One of the ways communities can create healthy and vibrant local economies is to develop local exchanges that help people meet their needs in new ways. These community currencies can take many different forms - they are not limited to notes that circulate like dollars. Communities around the world have developed currencies that care for elders through the exchange of time, food currencies, commercial barter systems and loyalty currencies that support local businesses, exchange systems that support the arts, and many more.
The resources below include a workbook to help community leaders identify and design new means of exchange, and two excerpts from a book written by Gwendolyn Hallsmith and Bernard Lietaer called Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies, available through New Society Publishers